With effect from 1 November 1998, section 29 of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1998 had required persons who still had scrips of KLSE listed counters to deposit these scrips with the Malaysian Central Depository (MCD) by 1 December 1998 unless they fall within the exempted categories.

Persons who failed to do so had recourse in that the SC was given the jurisdiction under the law to receive share recovery applications for a six-month period i.e. from 1 December 1998 until 1 June 1999.

Under the same law, once the appeal period of six months lapses on 1 June 1999, the Minister of Finance is accorded discretion to deal with those shares for which a claim has not been made to the SC by 1 June 1999.

The SC is working closely with the Minister of Finance to give careful consideration to all relevant factors in deciding the next steps for investors who have not submitted their claims by 1 June 1999. Investors will be informed in due course once a decision has been made.

The SC had in the past six months implemented several measures to inform and remind investors of the mandatory deposit requirement and the availability of an avenue for appeal from 1 December 1998 to 1 June 1999. Those measures included roadshows, briefings and a media publicity campaign that involved advertisements in all major dailies, press releases and radio talk shows.

The SC had also ensured that Malaysian representative offices overseas were informed of these requirements so that investors residing overseas could get information. The SC homepage also carried the SRU forms and frequently-asked questions to help investors make their applications.

As a result of these efforts, the SRU had received some 35,000 applications to reclaim an estimated 500 million shares. Almost a billion shares had been transferred to the Minister of Finance's legal custody at the outset.